Brett Johnson's Death

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/1481921.html

In a business known for nomads, KXAS/Channel 5 reporter Brett Johnson did his best to stay put. Johnson, who died Sunday at age 48 of complications from pancreatitis, was a Fort Worth native whose career took him to other markets -- but he got back to Fort Worth as soon as he could, and lived a block away from the station where he worked, on the east side where he grew up.

Friends and colleagues recalled Johnson's love of music and of Texas, and of Fort Worth in particular.

"Whenever we would discuss stories in editorial meetings, the whole staff would know what is a 'Brett' story," said Susan Tully, NBC-5's vice president of content, citing stories such as a feature Johnson did on Luckenbach, the Central Texas town made famous by a Waylon Jennings-Willie Nelson song; and on Watauga's Chef Point Cafe, a gourmet restaurant that is inside a gas station.

"He loved those kind of 'finds,'" Tully said, adding how much doing Tarrant stories meant to him: "The one thing that would crack us up in the newsroom is that if we told him to do a story that made him go east of [Texas] 360, he would not be happy. He's just so Fort Worth."

Johnson's love of music was such that NBC-5 co-workers said he'd often come into the station with a guitar or even a ukulele, and sing songs.

KXAS anchor Mike Snyder said that Johnson introduced him to such Texas artists as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Pat Green, and that he regretted declining Johnson's invitation to accompany him to Austin's South by Southwest Music Festival. Johnson was also a Beatles fan who colleagues say was a Beatles trivia expert, and who twice visited the Fab Four's hometown of Liverpool, England.

Snyder remembered Johnson's gregariousness, and how his musical obsessions played into that.

"He could sense when somebody was having a rotten day," Snyder said. "He could show up at your desk, quote you a line from a song ... or have that little impish grin of his, and he knew just what to say to turn your day around."

Brent Norman, a former University of North Texas fraternity brother of Johnson and a longtime friend, said that Johnson was someone who would be bluntly honest with you when you needed a dose of reality. But even with that bluntness, Johnson made and maintained friendships easily.

"He ran in so many circles," Norman said. "He had golfing friends and hunting friends, sports-car friends, musician friends, TV friends, scuba diving – he just had an incredible variety of interests and experiences."

Norman, who lives in Aledo, said that one of Johnson's favorite pastimes was driving his sports car on the country roads west of Fort Worth.

Johnson had been a freelance reporter for KXAS since 1996, and joined the station's staff in 2005. He had also worked at KDFW/Channel 4 and at KTVT/Channel 11, where he began his Dallas-Fort Worth TV career. Johnson had worked in other markets, such as Waco and Oklahoma City, and had touched many people in Dallas-Fort Worth media.

As NBC-5 reporters provided updates on his health and death on Facebook, condolences poured in from people at competing stations, many of whom had worked with Johnson.

NBC-5 reporter Scott Gordon, who first met Johnson when Gordon was a reporter in Tulsa and Johnson worked in Oklahoma City, did Channel 5's obituary for Johnson, which can be seen at www.nbcdfw.com/station. Gordon was struck by just how broad Johnson's reach was, especially in Fort Worth.

"He was a hard worker," Gordon said, "but when he was in Fort Worth, sometimes he didn't have to work that hard, because he knew everybody. No matter what the story was, Brett had a phone number in his cellphone. He knew the mayor on down.

"It seemed like he knew everybody," Gordon added. "He was Mr. Fort Worth."

Johnson is survived by his mother, Billye Johnson, and sister, Renee Robertson. Funeral arrangements are pending.